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Republicans taking their turn at blocking FDA commissioner pick
A Medical Device Daily Staff Report
In what may be emerging as the mother of all conundrums, it appears that the nomination of Andrew von Eschenbach, MD, to become commissioner of the FDA has hit yet another roadblock as two Republican senators reportedly are promising to block his nomination.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) said he will block the nomination unless the FDA takes steps to remove the abortion drug RU-486 from the market, Wesley Denton, Sen. DeMint's press secretary, told the New York Times.
Von Eschenbach's selection to head the agency, has previously been blocked by those on the other side of the aisle who objected to the delay in approving the commercialization of what is known as Plan B.
"Senator DeMint believes that a qualified FDA nominee would publicly discourage RU-486's use and take immediate steps to remove it from the market," DeMint told the Times, adding that "the senator's not going to budge until they wake up over at FDA."
Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana) also raised another objection to Von Eschenbach's selection, saying that the Bush administration must legalize imports of some prescription drugs before he would allow the nomination to proceed. "It could be from Canada only, or for personal use only, or a pilot or limited program. But it has to be meaningful."